


Lord Sullen and the Cockerel

by stardust009



Category: The Musketeers (2014)
Genre: Adventure, Beginnings, Fighting, Friendship, Gen, Nicknames, Treville getting a headache
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-11
Updated: 2014-05-11
Packaged: 2018-01-24 08:21:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,428
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1598084
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stardust009/pseuds/stardust009
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In the beginning Athos and Aramis do not get on. The rivarly between them means that they can barely endure each other's presence. Treville, ever the wise captain, sends them both on a duty far away from Paris so they can get to know each other better. But, as usual, something goes wrong.</p><p>Prompt filling</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Filling prompt - "Athos and Aramis did not get along from the start. Maybe there was some rivalry between them, and maybe something else. In any case, they barely endured each other's presence. Then Treville, being a wise captain, sends them both for a job away from Paris, so they could know each other better. But, as usual, something goes wrong. 
> 
> The result exceeds all expectations, as after their returning they are not only closer, but becomes best fucking friends."
> 
> \----------------------------------
> 
> Author's note - I don't know how their friendship started. I hope they do it in flashbacks one day in the show but, for the moment, this is my version :)
> 
> \----------------------------------
> 
> "Friendship consists in forgetting what one gives and remembering what one receives." – Alexander Dumas

Captain Treville stood back and watched his musketeers busy with sword practice. He had purposely come down to observe because he had a feeling that something might kick off. It had been three months since the Count de la Fère had marched into his office and demanded to be given the chance to prove his worth as a musketeer. Treville immediately knew that there was something special about the man despite the fact he was clearly running away from his past. Yet that wasn’t uncommon amongst his musketeers; solidering was a sensible career option for lost sheep. After insisting that he be called Athos, Treville allowed Athos to prove himself and was immediately impressed by his sword-skills, understanding of tactics and bravely. In fact Treville had never seen anyone take so soldiering as quickly and as efficiently as Athos. Therefore, he had to assume that the man must have some military background although he wasn’t going to ask questions because he knew that he wouldn’t be given any answers.

During Athos’ second mission he immediately took over when things started going wrong and he saved the lives of three musketeers. Treville was very impressed. Yet what he oozed in soldiering skills he lacked in social skills. The man made no effort to make friends with anyone. The only person Treville had ever seen him speak to whilst not on duty was Porthos, the other new musketeer who was also slightly ostracised due to his background. They were both from completely opposite sides of the social spectrum and yet that somehow bonded them.

Treville knew that the two new faces were going to shake things up. Athos, especially, demanded attention just by his very presence and that was bound to cause tension within the close-knit regiment Treville had created, or more specifically with a particular group of friends. Aramis and his friends ruled the roost and perhaps Treville only had himself to blame for that particular problem. They had already given Athos the nickname Lord Sullen.

Aramis stood out as the most skilled solider from the original band of musketeers and his charm also made him the most popular. The rest of the group were all just as confident, loud and good at what they did. Yet Treville could see beneath the charm and smile that Aramis was also a loner. He liked doing his own thing and he struggled with following orders when his heart was telling him not to. The confusing combination for the young man of his love of soldiering but his struggle with orders meant that he was often the one standing in Treville’s office being told off. At first it happened on a regular basis and it usually turned into a sparring match as Aramis argued back. However,  as Aramis matured slightly over the years, he had eventually started to trust and respect Treville. He began to understand the need for structure and orders and even flourished under them and Treville, in truth, had grown rather fond of the feisty young sharp-shooter.

Treville knew that the arrival of natural leader Athos was going to cause problems for Aramis. Not only was Aramis no longer the best sword-fighter in the regiment but suddenly there was someone else whose orders he might have to follow and, as Treville had learnt, you had to earn respect from Aramis as it wasn’t given freely. And Treville knew that Aramis was going to be a problem for Athos. He could already see that the way Aramis strutted around the garrison being at ease with making friends, sweet-talking his way out of trouble and acting like he didn’t have a care the world, was grating on the older man who took his duties very seriously.

The whole thing had developed into a rather ridiculously rivalry between Aramis and Athos, not helped by the fact Aramis was being encouraged by his friends to try to beat Athos at everything and Athos never backed down because he didn’t want to lose face. So every single practice session had turned into a battle between the two of them which was exactly why Treville now had to supervise like a parent watching over his bickering children.

They were already going up against each other. Swords swinging as they fenced around the garrison, blades only inches away from slicing off fingers and ears. Treville was tempted to stop them already but he trusted that they were only getting close as a tactic to scare the other person, not because they actually intended to cut anything off.

However, with Aramis’ friends loudly rooting him on, Treville was starting to worry. Porthos sat behind Treville in silence and Treville knew why, Athos was going to win. Treville just worried about what would happen when he did. Especially when, the longer the fight went on, the louder the group watching cheered for Aramis. Aramis wasn’t just doing it for himself, he was doing it for all the original musketeers and the overwhelming determination he had to win was unfortunately turning into frustration and working to his disadvantage. Athos was already using the emotions seeping from the younger man to gain the upper hand. Each time Aramis flailed with his sword, Athos just ducked or knocked the sword away. Treville wondered if Aramis knew that he wasn’t going to win but the cheers were forcing him to continue anyway. Part of him wished that Athos would just let Aramis triumph so that he wouldn’t be embarrassed in front of his friends but Athos was too stubborn what would that achieve anyway? They both knew that Aramis needed a few feathers preening. It would be a harsh lesson but it was probably one that he had to learn.

Aramis, unfortunately, wasn’t going to learn that lesson gracefully. Athos managed to eventually knock Aramis’ sword out of his hand and Aramis watched as it flew away from him. His group of friends went silent when they realised that their man had been defeated. Aramis looked at them briefly, Treville noticed a strange expression of panic suddenly come over Aramis, before the look switched to anger and he started running towards Athos. Athos automatically lifted up his sword to protect himself but then, almost at the last moment, he obviously remembered that Aramis was without a weapon so Athos moved his sword out of the way before the crazy man ran into it which gave Aramis the space to tackle Athos to the ground with a hard thud. Now the sword fight had turned into a fist fight as they rolled about in the mud.

“Stop!” Treville yelled as the fists started to fly. It had gone too far. He went running over with a couple of other men and grabbed Aramis by the collar, having to forcefully tug the man off Athos. Porthos was there picking Athos off the floor. Athos looked annoyed and was being held back by Porthos whilst Aramis was squirming under the grip of Treville’s strong hand.

“Enough!” he said, which seemed to have the right impact and they stopped moving.

\-----------------------------------------------------------

Treville sat there eyeing the two of them up. They were both standing in front of his desk in silence. Aramis had a split lip and Athos’ cheek was already swelling. Treville was annoyed at the pair of them. He wanted to make Aramis see that he could trust Athos and he wanted to make Athos see that was more to Aramis than his over-confident personality. Suddenly he remembered a duty that had fallen onto his desk that morning. He picked it up and reopened it again, reading the orders.

“The Queen’s sister is visiting. I have been asked to send two musketeers to Poitiers to accompany her party into Paris safely. I think that you two are just the men for the job.”

Aramis immediately looked horrified. Athos stayed stony-faced.  

“That’s three days ride away and another three days back. That’s six days away from Paris,” Aramis immediately protested.

“I am pleased to discover that you understand arithmetic, Aramis, but what is your point?”

“Six days away from Paris,” Aramis repeated, as if that was all the explanation he thought that Treville would need although he added, “And you want me to go with him?” At the end, just to clarify.

“Yes, with him. Aramis this is Athos. Athos this is Aramis. You probably haven’t exchanged greetings before because you’ve both been too busy trying to prove who has the biggest...look, this isn’t up for discussion, Aramis. I am giving you a duty. You’ll both ride out first thing in the morning.”

Captain Treville stopped looking at either of them in the hope that they’d both get the message. Younger Aramis would have stood and argued for another thirty minutes but older Aramis just huffed and walked out. It was an improvement at least. Treville noticed a slight bow from the ever polite Athos before he left as well. Once they were both out of the room Treville rubbed his sore temples.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------

“Six days with the Cockerel?” Porthos chuckled once Athos had told him about the duty. “That’s quite a cruel punishment. “

“I know,” Athos agreed with a sigh. “I suspect Treville hopes we will bond.”

“Bond?” Porthos laughed again. “Kill each other more like. Although...he might be different when he’s away from the rest of them.”

Athos didn’t care much about that. He was more worried about leaving Porthos on his own. “And how will you be without me around?”

Porthos snorted. “I’ll survive. You know one of them actually sat on the same bench at breakfast with me today. Things are improving.”

\----------------------------------------------------------------------

The next day they rode out and, for the entire day, barely a word was spoken between the pair of them apart from when they argued over which road to take. Athos decided that he needed to pick his fights and eventually let Aramis have his way and even somehow managed not to say anything when they had to turn around an hour later because it had been wrong. By the time night came they were both sitting by the fire and eating the bread which they had brought with them. Athos suspected that the silence was killing Aramis considering the other man seemed to never stop talking. Yet Athos wasn’t much of a conversationalist so he certainly wasn’t going to reach out with a conversation. Eventually it was Aramis who gave in as the fire started to die down and they got ready to sleep.

“Olivier told me that you’re the bastard of someone in the royal family,” Aramis suddenly said, seemingly out of the blue. “Is that true?”

Athos was a little surprised at the odd accusation and did feel the urge to correct that particular rumour. “I am not closely related to the royal family neither am I a bastard. Sorry to disappoint.”

“That’s a shame,” came the response which made Athos smile a little. They both curled up to sleep although Athos didn’t sleep well. He didn’t have any wine and Aramis had obviously decided to catch up on his talking whilst he was asleep. Thankfully Athos didn’t understand most of what he was mumbling although it certainly featured a lot of ladies names. When they woke up he assumed that Aramis would have no memory of his sleep-talking so didn’t mention it. They just continued their journey in silence until they argued again, this time over the fact Athos’ horse had started to limp.

“Your horse needs to rest!” Aramis insisted, jumping off his own.

“We have a duty to get to the Queen’s sister. The horse will be fine until then. I will get it looked at when we reach Poitiers.”

“How do you know it will be fine until then?” Aramis asked, trying to examine the hoof. “You haven’t even looked.”

“I know horses,” Athos said. He had owned four but he wasn’t about to admit that to Aramis. “He’s still putting a lot of weight onto the foot, it’s not serious. I’ll just ride slower.”

Aramis frowned a little as he looked up at Lord Sullen.....Athos from beneath the rim his hat. Pompous, moody and arrogant, he thought in his head. He thinks he can just waltz into the musketeers and expect us all to bow to his superior knowledge about life. This time Aramis couldn’t hold back and he snapped. “Why do you always act like you know everything? Like you’re better than the rest of us?”

This made Athos frown in return. He didn’t understand why the Cockerel....Aramis always seemed to feel threatened. “I don’t ever presume to know anything more than anyone else.”

“Well you certainly act like you do,” Aramis mumbled something in Spanish under his breath and got back onto his own horse. Soon there was silence again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Second chapter is up!! I just split it in half so it wouldn't seem so long]


	2. Chapter 2

The Queen’s little sister Mary was pleasant although she was quite stubborn and, despite Athos making some protests, she insisted that they visit a couple of French villages and towns on their journey to Paris. So the whole party which included three of her own personal guards and two hand-maids, travelled around visiting various places. The two stops on the first day were quite uneventful but, on the second day, Athos had a feeling that something was amiss. As Mary admired some jewellery in the market, Athos could see the whispers of the local town’s folk becoming increasingly more animated and a lot of stares were being shot in their direction. He thought he heard one of them whispering about the Queen and he realised that they probably would think that Mary was, in fact, her sister. With five men including two musketeers guarding her and the way she dressed, she could be mistaken for the Queen by a group of locals who had never seen the real Queen with their own eyes.

“Something isn’t right,” he said quietly to Aramis as they stood in the market.

“I know,” Aramis replied. “That green necklace really doesn’t go with her dress.”

Athos looked over at Mary who was trying on jewellery and he frowned. “Not that. These people seem less than pleased to have us in their town.”

Aramis looked around and shrugged. “They’re mostly farmers trying to sell their goods. The King put up their taxes recently. I doubt our beloved royal family are their favourite people right now.”

This piece of information about taxes wasn’t making Athos feel any better. He was just about to go over to Mary and suggest that they hurry up when a shot suddenly rang out. People screamed and everyone ducked. Aramis immediately ran over to Mary to protect her as did one of her own guards. Athos pulled out his own gun and looked around as he ducked behind the market-stall. The locals were running away.

“Get out of our town!” An angry voice yelled from somewhere. “How dare you come here and spend the money you stole from us!” Came another voice and then another shot rang out. Athos saw splinters of wood shattering on a market stall nearby. They didn’t seem to be aiming at them, just close enough to scare them off. Athos shuffled as he crouched closer to the group and spoke to Aramis and the guards.

“Get her out of here before their shots become a little less wild.”

Aramis nodded and advised the Princess to keep her head down as they started shuffling down the market, using the stalls as protection where-ever possible. Athos covered the rear and everything seemed calm for a moment until another shot rang out and exploded in the fruit right beside his shoulder. He ducked again but one of Mary’s guards stood up and fired back.

“No!” Athos yelled but it was too late. The guard’s shot hit the intended target and Athos heard a body drop to the ground. There was shocked silence from all involved for a few seconds before suddenly everything crazy. At least five guns fired at them and, this time, they were trying to reach their targets. He heard a loud curse from up ahead, one of the guards had been shot somewhere. Athos had to ignore it, the Princess was the priority.

Athos hissed at the guard who had fired. “They were just trying to scare us!” Now it had turned into a serious fight. “Go!” He yelled at Aramis who was just ahead of him. Aramis grabbed the Princess around the back in a manner of trying to be polite whilst also being desperate to keep her safe and started running with her down the street. Two more gunshots rang out and they were aiming right for them. Thankfully Aramis was fast and the bullets missed. Athos had to shoot back. He stood and, in the two seconds he had to spot their attackers, he fired from his loaded gun and managed to hit one of them in the shoulder. Not having time to reload, he withdrew his sword and moved backwards, still covering the others as they raced down the street. One man jumped up from between the stalls and swung at Athos with a spade. Athos managed to dodge the swing and kicked the man in the leg as the momentum of his anger kept him going. The man stumbled which allowed Athos to pierce him with the sword, not enough to kill but enough to make sure that he wouldn’t be getting up again straight away. Assuming that he had a few seconds whilst guns were being reloaded Athos suddenly turned and ran to catch up with the others. There were a couple of more shots just before they all managed to disappear around the corner to relative safety of another street. They all stood against the wall panting.

“Princess Mary?” Athos asked the group.

“She’s unharmed,” came Aramis’ voice but suddenly he heard the Princess gasp.

“Lena! Where is Lena?”

Athos leaned forward to look at the group and did a quick count. The Princess, Aramis, three guards, one holding his shoulder but he was there and one hand-maid. They were missing someone. The Princess rested his hand on Aramis’ chest.

“Lena’s still back there. Please, we can’t leave her behind.” Aramis frowned a little. He knew that his duty was to the Princess and keeping her safe and it would be a ridiculous idea to go back into a gunfight to rescue the hand-maiden. He also knew that he was going to do it anyway.

“I’ll go back,” he promised the Princess which seemed to calm her down a little. He looked over at Athos who frowned. So he ignored the disapproving Athos and turned to the three guards. “Get her to the horses. Ride to Paris and don’t stop. I’ll catch up with you.” The guards nodded and they encouraged the Princess and her hand-maid to leave with them. Once Aramis was satisfied that no-one from the market was following the party he turned to Athos.

“Go with them if you wish. But I’m going to find Lena and I could do with someone covering me.”

“Covering you?” The frown on Athos’ face turned into a defeated sigh. “If anyone is going to cover anybody, it’ll be you covering me. I’ll get her.”

“But....” Aramis started to protest but he was immediately stopped by a hand coming up to his face.

“No,” Athos insisted. “You’re the best shooter in the regiment and I know you won’t argue with that statement.”

Aramis didn’t and very soon they were both peering out from around the corner of the building and looking back down the market-place. More people had gathered and they were standing around talking, clearly angry and shocked. They both scanned the market but neither of them could see Lena from where they were standing.

“I need a better view,” Aramis said. He looked around and noticed a balcony on the building they were standing against. “Stay here.”

Before Athos had the time to protest, Aramis was kicking in the wooden door and disappearing. Athos was starting to see why Aramis had the reputation for being the reckless one and it wasn’t long until the Cockerel appeared on the balcony above his head, tip-toeing so quietly that only Athos noticed. His gun was raised and he was looking down the barrel at the market-place. Athos craned his neck to watch as Aramis leaned over the balcony mouth ‘jewellery’ down to Athos.  Now Athos knew where she was. She was still at the stall where it all started. Athos gave Aramis a nod and Aramis went back to aiming his gun. Athos took a deep breath and prayed to whatever god might be listening before he crouched and started moving back into the market. He tried to stay behind crates, barrels and stalls. Everyone was so frantic in their discussions that no-one seemed to notice him at first. Half-way down the market he ducked behind a cart then he saw Lena. She was hiding behind the jewellery stall looking terrified. No-one had spotted her and she seemed too scared to move. Athos knew that he’d have to go and get her, calling for her would only draw attention to the fact she was there. So he continued to move cautiously, trying to be aware of where everyone was standing and the direction of their eyes. However, knowing that Aramis was on the balcony and had his back was comforting.

He had almost reached Lena when her scared eyes spotted him. She gasped in relief and immediately got up to run towards him. He raised his hand and tried to stop her but it was too late and soon she was running out from her hiding place. This immediately got the attention of the locals and guns were raised once again. Athos suddenly on instinct stood up, his arms in the air as an act of submission. He faced the locals as Lena dived at his legs to hide.

“Don’t shoot,” Athis said, facing the angry looks as his heart pumped furiously in his chest. “My name is Athos and I was here with the Queen’s sister Mary. I know that you are angry at her sister and the King, but this young lady is a hand-maid. She just works just like you do trying to earn a decent living. I have come back to retrieve her and then we will be on our way. If any of you have any issues with this suggestion then I would like to add that my friend, who is the best sniper I have ever met, currently has a gun pointed at you.”

No-one said anything and no-one moved. They just all looked at Athos for a while until, eventually, a couple of the guns were lowered.

“Thank you,” Athos said and pulled Lena gently to her feet, wrapped his arm around her shoulders and slowly walked her out of the market. He felt nervous turning his back to the angry locals with guns but the fact Aramis was watching them helped.

Once they were both around the corner Aramis was already there waiting for them with a grin on his face.

“Who knew that diplomacy could be so effective.”

“It isn’t always,” Athos pointed out. “I suspect the threat of you shooting them was what really worked.”

Aramis reached out and gave Athos’ shoulder a squeeze. “Let’s go and make the Princess a very happy lady.” Athos hoped that, by that statement, he just meant that they would just be bringing her back her hand-maid. Athos knew of Aramis’ reputation with the ladies.

Once the Princess was safely delivered to the palace, Athos and Aramis returned to their horses.

“You know that there was no-way I would have been-able to shoot all of them, don’t you?” Aramis asked as they mounted the horses. “You would have been killed long before I managed to reload my gun.”

“I know, I was hoping that they wouldn’t realise that,” Athos said, he looked at Aramis who was smiling. “What?”

“You’re rather unbalanced in the head, aren’t you? I think I like you.”

Athos was about to protest about being called unbalanced but just nodded instead. He was starting to like Aramis as well, although he’d never admit it.

The journey home back the garrison was a lot more pleasant and they both talked to each other about various things.

“That man you sit with, Porthos, is he really an orphaned thief from the Court of Miracles?”

“Yes,” Athos said, wondering where Aramis was going to go with that particular conversation.

“Well, at least one of the interesting rumours about the pair of you is true. I know you both call me the Cockerel by the way and I’ll have you know as far as insults go I quite like it.”

Athos couldn’t help but snort and smile at the younger man. Eventually they arrived back at the garrison and Porthos came out to greet them as they got off their horses. Athos introduced the pair of them properly and Aramis smiled warmly as he shook Porthos’ hand. Porthos mostly looked confused until Treville appeared and asked them how the duty went.

“We ran into a little trouble,” Athos admitted. “But Aramis displayed a great deal of bravely and we managed to get everyone safely to the palace.”

Whilst Treville looked impressed, Aramis looked surprised. He wasn’t expecting Athos to suddenly praise him like that.

“Well actually, Captain, it was Athos who took control and managed to save the Princess’ hand-maiden from a group of angry farmers.”

“But it was your gallantry that made the rescue possible in the first place,” Athos pointed out.

“Stop,” Treville said. “Whatever you both did, I’m pleased and I hate to have to ask you when you’ve only just returned, but I’m down on men after a rather unpleasant bout of food poisoning. I need the three of you to take guard duty tonight.”

Aramis reached out and placed his hands on the shoulders of the other two with a smile, offering their services with enthusiasm, saying something about it being a good chance to get to know his fellow musketeers better. Treville, slightly confused as to why Aramis would volunteer himself for his least favourite duty, was at least happy that Aramis seemed to like Athos and Porthos now at last. He looked at them all and realised that, although they’d probably never be best friends, perhaps they would at least tolerate each other from now on.


End file.
